IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 56 

Celebrating the life of President Ronald Wilson Reagan on the anniversary 

of his birth. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 6, 2013 

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona (for himself, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. SALMON, Mr. 

GOSAR, Mr. HULTGREN, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. 

BENTIVOLIO, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. HARPER, Mr. 

HALL, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. OLSON, Mr. MARCHANT, Mr. BARTON, 

Mr. DAINES, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. COTTON, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. BROOKS of 

Alabama, Mr. STEWART, Mr. FLEMING, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. RADEL, Mr. 

CHABOT, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. GARDNER, 

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. MULVANEY, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. 

ROKITA, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. PITTENGER, Mr. CONAWAY, 

and Mr. FLEISCHMANN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

RESOLUTION 

Celebrating the life of President Ronald Wilson Reagan on 

the anniversary of his birth. 

Whereas, on February 6, 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was 

born to Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois; 

Whereas Ronald Reagan’s childhood years laid the foundation 

for his becoming a man of unfettered principle, who was 

not afraid to do what was right, and who was tenaciously 

committed to doing only that which he believed was right 

in his own heart, regardless of any political cost; 


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Whereas his small-town values of hard work and commitment 

to God and family were deeply rooted in his early childhood experiences; 

Whereas as a young man in Illinois, Ronald Reagan saved 77 

people from drowning through his courage, physical 

strength, and vigilance as a lifeguard; 

Whereas he attended high school in nearby Dixon, Illinois, 

and then worked his way through Eureka College, where 

he studied economics and sociology, played on the football 

team, and acted in school plays; 

Whereas in 1937, a screen test won him a contract in Hollywood, leading to his appearance in over 53 films over the 

next 2 decades; 

Whereas beginning in 1947, Ronald Reagan served as President of the Screen Actors Guild for 13 years; 

Whereas, on March 4, 1952, Ronald Reagan married Nancy 

Davis, who remained his best friend and lifelong companion and confidant for more than 5 decades; 

Whereas in 1966, Ronald Reagan was elected as the 33rd 

Governor of California, and won reelection 4 years later; 

Whereas Ronald Reagan believed in United States 

exceptionalism and asserted that the Nation has a unique 

role to play in the world; 

Whereas in 1980, Ronald Reagan won the Republican presidential nomination and was subsequently elected the 40th 

President of the United States, winning reelection again 

in 1984 and becoming the first president in 3 decades to 

serve 2 full terms; 

Whereas Ronald Reagan declared in 1981 in a speech at the 

University of Notre Dame that, ‘‘the West will not conVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:21 Feb 06, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR56.IH HR56

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tain communism, it will transcend communism’’, and 

stated that ‘‘For the West, for America, the time has 

come to dare to show to the world that our civilized 

ideas, our traditions, our values, are not—like the ideology and war machine of totalitarian societies—just a 

facade of strength. It is time for the world to know our 

intellectual and spiritual values are rooted in the source 

of all strength, a belief in a Supreme Being, and a law 

higher than our own’’, thereby recognizing that the 

source of the Nation’s strength and ultimately its victory 

over communism would come from God, the ‘‘source of 

all strength’’; 

Whereas in June 1982, Ronald Reagan lifted up the flagging 

morale of the democracies and gave hope to millions living under communist rule with an address to the British 

Parliament at Westminster Hall in which he proclaimed 

an imminent free world victory in the Cold War that 

would leave communist totalitarianism, like Nazi totalitarianism before it, ‘‘on the ash heap of history’’; 

Whereas, on March 8, 1983, President Reagan warned all 

people in the Nation to beware of the temptation to draw 

a moral equivalence between the United States and the 

Soviet Union, and the tendency to ignore the facts of history and the ‘‘aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to 

simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and 

thereby remove ourselves from the struggle between right 

and wrong, good and evil’’, thereby educating people in 

the United States about the moral bankruptcy of Soviet 

communism and reminding them that ‘‘the real crisis 

that we face is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of 

moral will and faith’’; 


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Whereas, on March 23, 1983, President Reagan gave a landmark speech at the zenith of the Cold War, in which he 

proposed what became known as the Strategic Defense 

Initiative, to protect the United States, its allies, and its 

vital interests from ballistic missile attack, thereby putting the United States on a path to ending its vulnerability to missile attack and harnessing the Nation’s scientific and technological advantages in support of a military effort that the Soviet Union ultimately could not 

match; 

Whereas less than 6 years later, the world watched the Revolutions of 1989 which culminated in the fall of the Berlin 

Wall, the disintegration of communism, and the dissolution of the once unshakeable Soviet Union; 

Whereas Ronald Reagan made millions of people believe 

again that the United States was still capable of being 

victorious, of rising out of and above difficult circumstances, and of facing devastating challenges; 

Whereas Ronald Reagan believed in the sanctity of all human 

life, saying ‘‘[w]e cannot diminish the value of one category of human life—the unborn—without diminishing 

the value of all human life’’; 

Whereas Ronald Reagan stated that ‘‘the future does not belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave’’, and desired for people of the United States to continue to make 

the Nation great by preserving its goodness, by persevering in the struggle between right and wrong and good 

and evil; 

Whereas the policies of the Reagan Administration led to an 

enduring economic recovery, the defeat of Soviet comVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:21 Feb 06, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR56.IH HR56

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munism, and a renewal of United States patriotism and 

self-confidence; 

Whereas in his Farewell Address, President Reagan warned 

of the need to develop an ‘‘informed patriotism’’ so that 

we can teach our children ‘‘what America is and what she 

represents in the long history of the world’’, thereby 

warning that if we forget our history, we won’t know who 

we are; 

Whereas Ronald Reagan’s life was a transformed one, one 

that reflected a light from within, and one that he willingly shared in the brightness and warmth of his smile 

and in his grace and good humor; 

Whereas Ronald Reagan’s faith in God, and his love of family 

and country were evident and strong even to the end of 

his life; 

Whereas Ronald Reagan was a patriotic, humble leader and 

noble American for 93 years; 

Whereas hundreds of millions of people now live in freedom 

because of Ronald Reagan’s conviction and courage; and 

Whereas Ronald Reagan stated that ‘‘freedom is never more 

than one generation away from extinction’’ and called 

upon all the people of the United States to remember 

their ‘‘rendezvous with destiny’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) celebrates the extraordinary life of Presi3 dent Ronald Wilson Reagan on the anniversary of 

4 his birth and expresses its deepest appreciation for 

5 his profound public service; and 


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1 (2) recognizes the significance of the Presidency 

2 of Ronald Wilson Reagan, and its enduring legacy 

3 for the United States and the rest of the world, and 

4 expresses its commitment to protect, affirm, and de5 fend the heritage of human freedom left by Presi6 dent Ronald Wilson Reagan. 

Æ 


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